We are learning traditional stories and rhymes. We read ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff: Ladybird First Favourite Tales’. You might like to go watch this video from ‘Toddler Learning Fun’ to go back over the story with your child. Unfortunately it is on You Tube which is blocked in school.

.
Traditional stories are useful when teaching children language. This is because the children find them interesting and the story line is repetitive. Some words and phrases are repeated throughout the story giving the children the opportunity to get them on their ear. Traditional stories enrich a child’s vocabulary in English and gives children exposure to a variety of grammar.

There are other stories on the ‘Toddler Learning Fun’ playlist that your child might enjoy.
Watching videos in English will be good for your child’s language development.
We used resources for this story from Bev Evan’s wonderful website Communication4All

Later this month we will be hearing the story ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’. Again the Ladybird First Favourite Tales book that I will be using is available as a slideshow on Vimeo. Unlike You Tube Vimeo is not blocked in schools. We will use resources for this story from Bev Evan’s wonderful website Communication4All

I am looking forward to next week’s story ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. Happily the Ladybird First Favourite Tales book that I will be using is available as a slideshow on Vimeo. Unlike You Tube Vimeo is not blocked in schools. We will use a workbook for this story from Bev Evan’s wonderful website Communication4All

We are learning traditional stories and rhymes. We revised a story we did last term ‘The Three Little Pigs: Ladybird First Favourite Tales’. Last term we built a house like the three little pigs did. You might like to go watch this video from ‘Toddler Learning Fun’ to go back over the story with your child. Unfortunately it is on You Tube which is blocked in school.

There are other stories on the ‘Toddler Learning Fun’ playlist that your child might enjoy.
Watching videos in English will be good for your child’s language development.
We used resources for this story from Bev Evan’s wonderful website Communication4All

Mrs. Todd’s Class from Rocky River Elementary School, Northern Carolina are doing a project about agriculture around the world. We have collaborated with her class ‘The Roadrunners’ before. You can see this work here.

‘The Roadrunners’ asked us some questions about Irish food imports and exports.You can see their class blog ‘Going Global at Rocky River’ here.

Do we import a lot of food in Ireland?

Yes we do. Half the annual 16 billion euro spent on food and drink in Ireland is spent on goods that have been imported. That is 8 billion euro’s worth.

We are an island nation surrounded by the sea so it is not surprising that we also export seafood.

Nearly half our exports go to our neighbours in the United Kingdom. We also export a lot to Europe. We export beef and dairy to the USA and luxury speciality foods.

Irish people living in the USA like to eat Irish rashers and sausages and other products. It reminds them of home.

Do we have an international aisle in the supermarket?

We have lots of international food in the supermarket.

The Census in 2011 tells us that nearly 3% of our population are Polish. There are also a lot of people from other parts of Eastern Europe living in Ireland. We also have many European, Asian and African people living in Ireland.

Irish people who have travelled abroad enjoy foreign food. The result of this is that we find lots of international food in the supermarket.

We like to eat Chinese, Italian and Indian food. You can see this on the supermarket shelves.

The people from other countries like Poland like to eat food from their country.

Oreos from the USA are a popular product here among the children in Ireland.

The children were learning about Winter from their class teacher. We talked about it too. We learned about how the weather gets colder and how we wear warm clothes. We heard about what animals do in Winter. We also talked about snowmen. We drew some in chalk on black sugar paper.

We made snowmen collage:

and we made snowmen out of plasticene.

We also played with finger puppets. We learned that you say: ‘One snowman’ but ‘Two snowmen’..

As we were doing these activities we were learning vocabulary and grammar. As we went from Junior Infants, through Senior Infants and on into First Class, we did more work on grammar, particularly tenses, prepositions and plurals. You can read about all the activities we have done in EAL and Language HERE.

We learnt about bugs. In the Summer term we will go for a Bug Hunt in the school grounds. We learned the names of these creatures and talked about how they moved. We used verbs and adverbs.

The children were learning about hedgehogs from their class teachers and we learned about hedgehogs too. Did you know hedgehogs can climb and can swim.

Iga and Alan taught teacher the Polish for hedgehog: jeż. We also learned about other animals; their names, where they live, what their babies are called and how they move.

As we were doing these activities we were learning vocabulary and grammar. As we went from Junior Infants, through Senior Infants and on into First Class, we did more work on grammar, particularly verbs and adverbs, tenses, ‘time markers’ and prepositions. You can read about all the activities we have done in EAL and Language HERE.

and numbers. Many of these activities developed Fine Motor Skills also.

We learned about 3D shapes. Teacher was very impressed that some students already knew the word cuboid! Though a simple activity, building blocks was one that the children really enjoyed.

We used Numicon. First we had free play. Later we made pictures. The children loved using Numicon too.

The children were learning about ‘Houses and Homes’ from their class teacher. We talked about houses too and made some using shapes.

As we were doing these activities we were learning vocabulary and grammar. As we went from Junior Infants, through Senior Infants and on into First Class, we did more work on grammar, particularly tenses, ‘time markers’ and prepositions. You can read about all the activities we have done in EAL and Language HERE.

On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me A partridge in a pear tree.

On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the thirdday of Christmas, my true love sent to me Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Ten lords a-leaping, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Eleven pipers piping, Ten lords a-leaping, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Twelve drummers drumming, Eleven pipers piping, Ten lords a-leaping, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree!

Post navigation

We LOVE to share.

You are VERY welcome to use the original content from this blog. However if you are reposting any of this content directly to another class blog please attribute it to 'If Only The Best Birds Sang'. Please observe copyright as we ourselves endeavour to do. Thank you :)